‘Active’ vegans

Passive vegans eat what they eat and speak modestly, according to their principles. ‘Active’ vegans attempt to win people over, which is a noble enough pursuit as long as they don’t punch holes in people’s parachutes. When they threaten the safety of one’s private world, touch home habits, breach etiquette, it comes as a shock. It seems like bad manners. The force with which a judgement can be hurled shocks and frightens. No one likes that, nor wants to be familiar with it. It’s unlike any other sort of criticism, from anyone else. And it’s noticeably different from the advice we receive from our own inner voice, conscience, when it’s talking to us, because we feel we have some sort of control over whether we listen or don’t listen. Whereas with a live adult person standing in front of you, barring the way, one has to take notice and take some sort of defensive action.
The worst shock is the emergence of a new fear - the fear of the Moral Police. It happens unexpectedly. Here I am (every day) at breakfast, perhaps reading the paper, half acknowledging the presence of others at the table. And there’s this vegan, about to make a witty comment (judgementally) about my omelette. And bang! Right out of the blue comes an attack. An intrusion not dissimilar to me walking into your bedroom or bathroom and finding you naked.
If you’re a vegan, have you ever looked inside someone’s fridge and found ‘evidence’, and then noticed the look on their face when you shut the fridge door? They usually excuse what’s inside.
What is on their mind when they react? They’re wondering what we saw in there. They’re embarrassed. And this may be one very good, if subconscious, reason why they don’t ask us around again, for fear of our looking too closely at their private life.